Hearing aids are expensive devices, costing as much as $5,000 each. Unfortunately they are also easy to lose or destroy. Once a person loses a pair of $10,000 hearing aids, they are always on the lookout for better ways to store them and keep them secure from the environment and from being destroyed. They are small devices which fit in peoples' ears but they are not worn all day. To wear them all day would become irritating and tiresome, and typically a person takes them in and out of their ears several times a day as needed. If they are placed in a shirt pocket, they can easily be lost when the shirt goes through the laundry, or they can easily fall out of the shirt pocket. Hearing aids can also be readily sucked up by vacuum cleaners in an automobile setting or at home. They are typically not waterproof and they are easy to get wet and therefore ruined, they are not crush proof, they are so small that they are easy to lose. Another thing that is useful for users of hearing aids is to have a container which includes a replaceable desiccant pack, which keeps the humidity inside the container low, so that when hearing aids are placed in the container they tend to dry out. Storage space for batteries is also helpful, and small tools may be useful for keeping the hearing aid clean and workable. This can include a small brush or a cloth with which to wipe the hearing aid.
Containers which hold hearing aids are presently available but do not solve all of the problems which are faced by hearing aid users, and do not adequately protect the expensive hearing aids, and are not compact enough to be easily carried. Some other issues users have with hearing aids are these:
The hearing aid batteries may go dead and the use doesn't have any extra with him/her.
The user is getting a haircut, shampoo, or hairdo, and the hearing aids are at risk of being lost in the process.
The user needs to remove the hearing due to being in a noisy place, like restaurants, graduations, church, sports, or other public events make it hard to hear and the noise is irritating, so hearing aids are removed from the ears.
The user's dog (or cat) has a habit of playing with the user's hearings aids, so they can't be left lying around.
If the user places his/her hearing aids in a shirt pocket, they can fall out when The user bend over and land in the sink, tub, or toilet, or simply be stepped on, ran over, or lost.
If a user puts his/her hearing aids in his/her pocket, they could end up in the washing machine.
If a user puts her hearing aids in a purse, they can get damaged by being thrashed around loose in a purse.
The hearing aids can fall or get bumped off the end table or night stand and be stepped on, or if someone is using an adjacent rocking chair or recliner, crushed.
The hearing aids are small, and get lost easily.
The user may be out a walk, hike, or bicycle ride and get caught in the rain, the hearing aids may be damaged by water.
The user is out on a windy day, and the wind hitting against the hearing aid's microphone sounds like a jet engine in your ear, and after just a few minutes your nerves are rattled beyond description, at which time the user removes the hearing aids and runs the risk of losing them.
The user finds himself around a work environment where loud tools are in use, or where noisy work is being done, like out on the farm operating a tractor—maybe the user is around other loud equipment, The user removes the hearing aids and risks losing them.
The user may find herself in a dusty environment like driving down a dirt road or trail with friends, maybe in the desert geo-caching, or maybe the construction site next door is creating a lot of dust. The user removes the aids, and risks losing them.
The user plans to be around water boating, skiing, swimming, river rafting, or fishing on a float tube and the risk of taking a plunge and ruining her hearing aid is too great. The user may want to walk the beach along the ocean and feel the breeze as the fog rolls in, remove the hearing aids, and risk losing them.
The user may like to drive down the road with the window down. The hearing aids have to be removed due to the wind noise, and then the user would be at risk of losing them.
The user may be away from home for a while visiting friends or family, on a backpacking trip, vacation, or cruise, and will need a safe dry place to put your hearing aids while traveling, particularly during adverse weather.
The user may perspire a lot at the gym, on the job, or just being out in the heat, and don't welcome the risk of damaging the hearing aid—or listening to the raspy sound they emit having been exposed to the excessive body moisture. To take the hearings aids out exposes them to greater risk of being lost or damaged.
The user wants the inside of his ears to dry after taking a shower before inserting the hearing aid in his ears. Not having a secure storage device puts the user's hearing aids at risk.
As a hearing impaired person, the user cannot relax and have noise. When trying to relax the user not only wants his/her hearing aid out of the ears, but a set of plugs to replace them, as total silence is the relaxed environment of choice for the hearing impaired, because a hearing impaired person expends much effort trying to hear and interpret what is being said, sung, or done. But to take out the hearing aids, is to expose them to greater risk.
Five years ago the average age of first time hearing aid purchaser was 75; today it's closer to 65. In part, with the use of smart phone integrated music and mp3 players, there are an increased number of younger people in need of hearing aids. It is projected that this, along with the baby-boom generation, will continue to redefine the age of the first time hearing aid purchaser, continuing the current trend.
As the age of the hearing aid wearer changes, so do the needs and expectations. The existing clam-shell case solution for hearing aid management, mostly intended to sit on the nightstand, no longer meets the expectations of the hearing aid dependent consumer. A more robust, compact, take-on-the-go, feature rich solution is needed.